Spaghetti with Meatball Sauce

Spaghetti with Meatball Sauce

The Spaghetti dishes are most favourite Italian food of my sons. They prefer to have spaghetti any day, and I also very happily cook the buckwheat spaghetti, which is tasty as well as healthy. This Spaghetti dish with meatball sauce came from my friend who was transferred to Italy. A typical Bengali girl, who survived on fish curry, rice was forced to eat pastas and spaghetti days in and out. Ultimately she mastered the Italian cuisine so well that, post her 4 years stint in Italy, she came back to India and opened an Italian Restaurant. This is one of her best dishes.

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time     : 2 hours
Difficulty            : Easy
Serves                : 6

Ingredients :

MEATBALLS :

500 grams lean ground Beef/Mutton/Lamb 

1 cup fresh Bread crumbs

1 tablespoon dried Parsley

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder (you get them bottled, in case you don't find it, use 1 small clove of garlic, grated) 

1 Egg, beaten

SAUCE :

3/4 cup chopped Onion

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1/4 cup Olive oil (use ordinary Olive oil, no need to use Extra Virgin) 

800 grams whole peeled Tomatoes (blanched, and peeled)

2 teaspoons Salt

1 teaspoon white Sugar

1 Bay leaf

2 packs of Tomato paste (puree)

3/4 teaspoon dried Basil

1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

Spaghetti 1 x 400grams pack, cooked as per instruction.

Method :

1) In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder and beaten egg.

 

2) Mix well and form into 12 balls. Store, covered, in refrigerator until needed.

 

3) Add Olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

 

4) Once the Oil is hot, add onions and garlic.

 

5) Saute onion and garlic, until onion is translucent.

 

6) Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes.

 

7) Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more.

 

8) Once the meat balls are properly cooked, check the seasonings and adjust if required.

 

9) Serve hot on the bed of ready spaghetti.